Punk Passion to Global PR: Thibaut Charmolue’s Journey with Sk8PR

Written By Emma Taylor

Who has had the biggest influence on your musical taste?

My most favourite band is the band Green Day! I became a big fan just before they released their American Idiot album which was in 2004. In 2004 I was living in the UK, so they were all over the radio and TV.

How did you first become interested in music?

I always listened but I properly became interested when I took my drum lessons in the UK. I never played in a band, but I was super interested in the instrument. Around 2003/2004 I really started to become super interested in punk music like Green Day but also all this stuff from before like The Clash, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols. I listened to other genres, but punk music is like my pride, my go-to. There were also some videos that made me super interested in music:

Green Day - International Supervideos! – Compilation (2001)

No Doubt The Videos 1992-2003 (2004)

Can you explain the motivation behind starting your own brand Sk8PR?

Well, I studied in the UK during my primary years at that time I also took drum lessons, so I became super interested in music. I went back to live in France and became really interested in music business. I went on a trip to the US in 2010 and during that trip I walked past a studio, The Fantasy studios, it doesn’t exist anymore, but it was the studio where Green Day recorded their Dookie album. I went back to study in the UK again on a music business course, whilst it wasn’t properly a music PR course it was called Music Business and Innovation. So, this was at ACM (academy of contemporary music) a school where you would study if you’re a musician or you want to get in the business.

Just when I started working in PR Covid happened so no PR agencies were hiring so I thought why not do it myself. It is still quite recent I created the agency in 2022, and I properly started working with artists last year.

So, what studies do you have to do in order to become a Music Publicist?

There are tonnes of resources online, such as different books. These in particular include:

-            I Was There: Dispatches From A Life in Rock and Roll by Alan Edwards

-            Access All Areas: A Backstage Pass Through 50 Years of Music and Culture by Barbara Charone

-            Lunch With The Wild Frontiers: A History of Britpop and excess in 13 ½ chapters by Jane Savidge

You could do a Music Business course, you don’t have to in order to become a publicist, but it is much easier to study it because you can network during your studies too. The closest course to music publicist is Music Business. There is a good amount of work but it’s fun! There aren’t a lot of Music Business schools in France which is why I had to go to the UK.

For readers who may not understand what a music publicist is, can you describe your role?

A music publicist is related to all aspects of promotion for an artist, like getting an interview in a magazine or a blog, many other things surrounding promotion. They will try to get as much coverage for the artist in all forms of media. Then they will do reports on which media replies.

What is the most rewarding part of working in PR?

Basically networking, getting new medias from all around the world following the agency. We have some media in France, the UK, the US or even Japan. Some publicists only focus on their country whereas I try to gather all around the world which can be challenging.

Can you tell us about a favourite project of yours?

I worked in 2017/2018 with a band from Paris Called HighTower for the promotion of their record called Club Dragon and I was able to get the band on the soundtrack of three mobile phone video games. So that really helped the band in terms of exposure. When I first contacted the person in control of that I didn’t think that it would go through, and I still don’t know how I did it. It was the right time, the perfect band, the perfect song. The promo video for one of the games has more than one million views with the song which is nuts!

What’s next for you and Sk8PR?

I’m currently in talks with working with another band in Los Angeles right now. I would like to work with more female artists which I haven’t really done since I started working. It would be cool to branch out and work with female artists in the pop genre.

Emma Taylor
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